author
Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan
1724–1766
A pioneering 18th-century Irish novelist and playwright, she is best remembered for emotional, sharply observed fiction that helped shape the novel of feeling. Her best-known work, Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, won praise in its own day and kept her name alive through the literary fame of the Sheridan family.
1 Audiobook
Memoirs of Miss Sidney Biddulph Extracted from her own Journal, and now first published
by Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan
About the author
Born in Dublin in 1724, Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan grew up in a family that did not strongly encourage girls' education, yet she became a serious reader and writer. She married the actor, teacher, and theatre manager Thomas Sheridan in 1747, and the couple later moved to London.
Sheridan wrote novels, plays, and shorter pieces, building a reputation for lively storytelling and emotional depth. She is most closely associated with Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph (1761), often noted as her most famous novel, and she also wrote for the stage. Her work places her among the important women writers of the 18th century.
She died in 1766. She is also remembered as the mother of playwright and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, but her own writing career stands on its own as an important part of Irish and British literary history.